Ren Yijun had truly awakened. Although his spirit still didn’t look good and his face was pale, Great Madam was sitting on the edge of the bed adjusting his blanket while saying something, her eyes still red and swollen.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua enter, Great Madam stopped talking and nodded at them with some smile on her face: “You’ve come?”

After stepping forward to pay their respects, Ren Yaoqi asked softly: “I heard Third Brother is feeling better, so Third Sister and I came to see him. Great Aunt, has the physician examined him? What did he say?”

Great Madam stood up: “The physician has already been here and prescribed several more doses of medicine. He said that as long as he can keep the medicine down and eat food, he’ll gradually recover. I’ll invite a few more physicians to the mansion later to have a look.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded, also feeling relieved.

At this time, Great Madam’s head maid came in to report that a matron from Great Young Madam’s side had come, seemingly with some matter to consult Great Madam about.

Great Madam looked at Ren Yijun again, then hesitantly said to Ren Yaoqi: “Qi’er, your Third Brother gets along best with you. Please help me persuade him properly to take his medicine obediently and not throw tantrums anymore.”

Ren Yijun, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them: “Where is that woman?” Though his voice was hoarse and weak, his displeasure was quite obvious.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t immediately understand who he was referring to, but Great Madam immediately walked over and, not minding that Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua were present, coaxed him softly: “You focus on recovering first. When you’re well, Mother will do whatever you want. If you feel Qi Yuegui isn’t worthy of you, Mother will find a way to handle it after you recover. But if you don’t get better, Mother can’t very well send her away, can she? The fact that you’re improving now might be because of…”

This sentence somehow touched Ren Yijun’s sensitive spot. He angrily raised his hand to strike the bed frame, frightening Great Madam so much that her face went pale. She hurriedly grabbed his hand: “Son, don’t get angry. Please don’t get angry. Mother won’t say it anymore. Mother won’t say anything more. I’ll let you have your way in everything, isn’t that enough?”

Ren Yijun looked at Great Madam and said word by word: “Send her away! I don’t want to see her again!”

Now Ren Yaoqi understood. It turned out that Qi Yuegui had offended not Great Madam but Ren Yijun, which was why Great Madam had punished her by making her kneel. But Ren Yijun had been lying in his sickbed and had only awakened this morning – how could Qi Yuegui have offended him? Ren Yaoqi was completely puzzled.

Great Madam hurriedly said: “Alright, alright, Mother will send her away. Mother will send her away right now! You must get well!”

Ren Yijun pressed his lips tightly together, looking at Great Madam without speaking.

Great Madam sighed, instructed the people in Ren Yijun’s room to serve him well, glanced at Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, then turned and left.

After Great Madam left, Ren Yaoqi approached Ren Yijun. Seeing that apart from the three of them, there were only two head maids in the room, she reached out to check Ren Yijun’s pulse.

Ren Yijun glanced at her, then closed his eyes and ignored her, but he didn’t brush away her fingers either.

Although Ren Yaoqi could understand prescriptions and recognize many medicinal herbs by following instructions, she was still only a half-baked amateur when it came to diagnosing illness and reading pulses. Nevertheless, she very seriously took Ren Yijun’s pulse, recalling the medical books she had read. It seemed that Ren Yijun’s pulse was relatively stable, at least much better than what she had observed during her last visit.

Thinking of what Great Madam had said earlier, Ren Yaoqi said softly: “Third Brother, it’s truly wonderful that you could wake up…”

Unexpectedly, Ren Yijun sneered without even opening his eyes: “Wonderful, what? The world just has one more useless person.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was startled. Could it be that Ren Yijun had suddenly become seriously ill because he didn’t want to live?

Ren Yaohua couldn’t stand Ren Yijun’s attitude and mockingly said, “At least you’re still a breathing, useless person who can put the family at ease. If you died, you’d be worse than useless!”

A vein jumped on Ren Yijun’s forehead. Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua with some exasperation, giving her a meaningful look. Ren Yaohua looked at the half-dead Ren Yijun, pursed her lips, and silently turned to sit elsewhere.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Third Brother, Third Sister always speaks this way. Don’t be angry with her.”

Ren Yaoqi paused, then continued: “However, though her words don’t sound pleasant, there is some truth to them. People don’t live entirely for themselves. When you suddenly became seriously ill this time, Great Aunt’s hair turned much whiter from worry. These past few days, she hasn’t slept or rested, staying by your side constantly without even returning to her courtyard.” Regardless of how Ren Yaoqi judged Great Madam as a person, it was undeniable that she was indeed a good mother, whether to Ren Yaoyin or Ren Yijun – she loved and protected them wholeheartedly.

Seeing that Ren Yijun remained silent, Ren Yaoqi continued: “Some people are born with good family backgrounds, good looks, and good health, yet they choose to live in a drunken stupor, wasting their lives in mediocrity. Others have ambition, talent, and ability, but lack good family circumstances, spending their lives as dependents, with all their efforts ultimately benefiting others. Third Brother, you have talent, looks, and ambition, but are ultimately confined to this courtyard because of your physical limitations. Third Brother, if I were you, I would also feel resentful and unwilling, but there simply isn’t that much fairness in this world.”

Ren Yijun opened his eyes and stared blankly at the bed canopy above.

“I know someone who, like you, has had poor health since childhood, but I’ve never seen resentment or unwillingness in him. Even those who meet him unconsciously overlook his physical shortcomings and are captivated by his bearing. But has he truly never felt aggrieved by his circumstances? I think not. Your birth may not compare to his, but Heaven has given you both the same tribulations – the only difference is that he overcame them while you compromised. ‘When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on someone, it must first make his heart suffer, make his sinews and bones toil, make his flesh and skin starve, make his efforts come to naught, to stimulate his heart and patience and strengthen his capabilities’ – this describes people like him. What I’m curious about is: if he can accomplish such things, why can’t you? Think about this person’s existence, Third Brother – do you still believe you’re confined to this inner courtyard merely because of poor health?”

Ren Yijun was silent for a long time. Just when Ren Yaoqi thought he wouldn’t speak, he suddenly said: “Xiao Jingxi… the person you’re talking about is Xiao Jingxi? I… I truly am far inferior to him.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled: “How do you know you’re inferior to him when you’ve never tried? Third Brother, recover properly and get well. If Father can succeed in this Literary Contest, he might receive an invitation from Yunyang Academy. When that happens, how about you go serve as his book boy?”

Ren Yijun’s lips curved upward slightly.

Having said everything she needed to say, Ren Yaoqi didn’t know how else to console Ren Yijun. These things required Ren Yijun to figure out for himself.

Great Madam had been standing by the curtain outside the inner room for quite some time, hearing the entire conversation inside. She took out her handkerchief to wipe the corners of her eyes, then turned and left again.

“Great Madam, aren’t you going in to watch over Third Young Master?” a maid asked carefully.

Great Madam shook her head: “It’s rare that he can listen to advice. Let Yaoqi talk with him. I’ll go check on the eldest daughter-in-law – she’s been unclear about some accounts.” As Great Madam spoke, she couldn’t help reflecting on whether she had been too controlling of Ren Yijun over the years due to concerns about his poor health.

The maid asked: “What should be done about Third Young Madam? Should she be sent back as Third Young Master wishes?”

Great Madam sighed: “When someone has been carried through the door, where can she be sent? Didn’t I just have her moved to the side courtyard? Let her stay there temporarily and tell her not to go out unless necessary, so Third Young Master won’t see her.”

Having brought someone in for the fortune-bringing marriage yesterday, and with Ren Yijun’s condition greatly improved today, if they sent her away now, even if she wasn’t afraid of people saying the Ren family was ungrateful, she still had to consider Ren Yijun’s condition. Who knew if the fortune-bringing marriage had worked?

“Why would Jun’er be so averse to the Qi woman?” When Great Madam had heard that Ren Yijun had awakened, she had been busy with joy and calling physicians, not leaving Ren Yijun’s bedside for a moment. Seeing Ren Yijun lose his temper at Qi Yuegui, she had only assumed her son looked down on the woman and hadn’t investigated further. Now thinking about it, something seemed wrong.

The maid said: “When we heard earlier that Young Master had awakened, this servant came with you, and we only saw Third Young Master losing his temper at Third Young Madam upon entering. Should this servant go ask the maids who kept watch in the Young Master’s room last night?”

Great Madam nodded and said coldly, “We should indeed ask them. If the Qi woman did something inappropriate, I won’t feel comfortable keeping her around.”

So the maids from Ren Yijun’s room were summoned by Great Madam’s people under some pretext.

That maid knew that Great Madam would question her once she came to her senses, so she answered quite smoothly: “This morning, Third Young Madam got up before dawn, then wanted to serve Third Young Master by wiping his face and hands. We couldn’t very well stop her. Later, Third Young Madam had us bring over the medicine, saying she wanted to feed it to Third Young Master, but Third Young Master still showed no reaction and refused to drink. Then Third Young Madam took out a foul-smelling package from her pocket and brought it close to Third Young Master’s nose and mouth, muttering words as she did so. This servant heard her saying that the thing in her hand was some animal’s feces that could cure all diseases, and if Third Young Master wouldn’t drink the medicine, she would stuff that thing up Third Young Master’s nose and feed it through his nose. She also said she had once used this method to cure a sow at home, so it should work on people too…”

At this point, the maid’s expression became extremely strange, and Great Madam’s face also changed, trembling with anger: “How outrageous!”

The maid quickly said, “But Third Young Master did wake up.” Though it was very likely that he had been awakened by anger at his new wife.

“When Third Young Madam saw that Young Master had awakened, she tried to force medicine down his throat. Third Young Master smashed the bowl and told her to get lost, but Third Young Madam said… said she had married a useless man who couldn’t even drink medicine. After that, you arrived, and when you fed Third Young Master medicine, he didn’t vomit anymore.”